Immunological drug found to increase longevity in eight species

Researchers in the United Kingdom have discovered a drug that could have the same life-extending effect as eating less, potentially guiding new approaches to improving human health and lifespan. 

Dietary restriction has long been regarded as one of the most reliable methods for extending lifespan across species, yet it poses a significant challenge to maintaining it over the long term. 

Researchers from the Universities of East Anglia and Glasgow found that rapamycin, a drug initially developed as an immunosuppressant – used to lower the immune system defences - and currently being used in human trials, has comparable life-extending benefits in eight species of vertebrates, not including humans.  

The team analysed 167 studies of lifespan across eight vertebrate species, including fish, mice, rats and primates and investigated the effect of dietary restriction on longevity, as well as the effects of rapamycin and metformin, both of which have been indicated as life-extending drugs. 

Rapamycin, but not metformin, extended the lifespan in the tested animals in a way comparable to eating less. 

“These findings (…) strengthen the case for its further study in ageing research and raise important questions about how we approach longevity therapeutics”, said Edward Ivimey-Cook, co-leader of the study published in Aging Cell.